The field of orthopedic surgery is a constantly evolving one. While the same anatomical problems often occur in patients and require orthopedic procedures, the apparatus and methods for performing the many different surgeries often change. Surgeons must keep up with the latest and greatest technology in order to continue to better serve their patients. For instance, there exist many different procedures for alleviating pain in, restoring normal movement to, and otherwise repairing the knee joint. Whether traditional or minimally invasive, or full or partial, knee replacement surgery has become a common orthopedic procedure. The present invention relates to an improved apparatus utilized in an improved method for performing one or two simultaneous unicondylar knee replacement procedure(s).
A unicondylar procedure typically involves the replacement of only one compartment of the knee joint, rather than the entire joint. Specifically, a unicondylar procedure generally involves replacement of portions of either the medial or lateral compartments of the knee joint. For example, in certain patients the surfaces of the proximal tibia and distal femur will only be worn on either the medial or lateral side. This is often due to injury or wear caused by a certain activity or movement (e.g., running, walking, etc . . . ). A unicondylar procedure will see the damaged articulation surfaces (on both the tibia and femur) of the affected compartment being resected and replaced with artificial implants that essentially recreate the surfaces and allow for the needed articulation in the joint. Typically, this procedure is performed through a single incision located in the skin on either the anterior aspect or side aspect, adjacent the affected compartment of the knee joint. This type of procedure is a widely utilized technique for accomplishing the restoration of normal operation to a damaged knee joint and alleviation of pain in a patient.
Recently, it has become common place to perform two of the aforementioned unicondylar replacement procedures in lieu of a total knee replacement procedure. Instead of resecting the entire surfaces of the proximal tibia and distal femur, as is often done in a total replacement procedure, utilizing two unicondylar procedures to replace both the medial and lateral compartments allows for some of the bone surfaces to remain in place and certain of the ligaments and tendons in the knee to remain intact (e.g., the ACL). However, performing a procedure in this fashion poses certain difficulties to a surgeon. For example, each of the resections of the either the tibia or femur must done so that the medial and lateral aspects of each bone are linked so as to allow proper balancing of the joint upon implantation of replacement implants. Thus, instruments have been created which allow for linked resections to be made on either the tibia or femur. Nonetheless, these instruments have their own drawbacks, such as their inability to conform to differently sized patients and their inability to allow precise cutting of the bone.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved linked resection guide for use in either a single or double unicondylar procedure.